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No. 1 West Hancock flattens North Union, 62-8

ARMSTRONG — West Hancock showed why it is ranked No. 1 in Class A.

The Eagles bulldozed the North Union Warriors 62-8 in an Iowa District 3 football clash Friday night in Armstrong.

“It’s tough, they’re (the Eagles) No. 1 in the state for a reason,” said North Union head coach Matt Ernster. “They’re very, very good. I almost consider them machine-like. When they get it rolling, they’re really hard to stop. Our guys played hard, they were just a little outmanned in aspects of the game.”

The Eagles used a three-back attack to total 336 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the ground in the first half, before pulling their starting skill position players at halftime.

Ironically, the Eagles scored their first touchdown through the air.

After a Warrior punt to the 40, Tate Hagen carried the ball nine yards before quarterback Brayden Leerar threw a deep ball down the left seem to Josef Smith for a 31-yard touchdown. On West Hancock’s next drive, Hagen, Smith and Cole Kelly combined for 60 yards on the ground during an eight-play drive, culminating in a Kelly 8-yard score with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

Kelly then finished off the Eagles’ next drive with a 39 yard run for a touchdown with 34 seconds before the second quarter.

The three backs combined for 53 yards on the following drive, this time finishing with a Smith 3-yard scoring run.

Hagen got his first score on a 1-yard leap over the pile at the goaline to finish a nine-play, 53-yard drive.

Hagen scored again with 2:38 left before halftime on a 6-yard run. Smith started the next drive when he took a sweep to the right 56 yards down to the 1, then finished it by taking another sweep the 1 yard for the score to go ahead 49-0 with 1:18 left in the opening half.

Smith totalled 12 carries for 121 yards and two touchdowns, Hagen had 12 totes for 95 yards and two scores, while Kelly carried the ball seven times for 120 yards and reached paydirt twice.

Smith also added two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown all in the first half.

With a running clock and the backups in, West Hancock scored two more times in the second half.

Cole Wood returned an interception 54 yards for a touchdown and Parker Feuring and Rylan Barnes carried the load with a combined 87 yards on 12 second-half carries.

Brody Cox hit four out of six extra point attempts, with one blocked by the Warriors’ Caleb Rasch.

The Warriors wouldn’t give up without a fight, though.

Braden Pierce caught the kickoff following the Eagles’ final score at the 12, then pitched the ball to Brendan Anderson on the 10. Anderson took the ball to the left sideline and sprinted all the way for a 90-yard score.

The Warriors also forced two fumbles in the second half, one recovered by Rasch and the other by Bryer Prochniak.

With three games remaining on the North Union schedule, Ernster said the Warriors will need a new attitude for the rest of the year.

“We talked about how we’re probably not going to play anybody better than these guys,” Ernster said. “So that’s a positive moving forward. Really it comes down to a tale of the last third of the season. We’ve got three games left, we need to decide to rise up and finish out as a team these last three weeks. I feel like we have a shot to be competitive. We’ve got to come back with an attitude and flush this game out as fast as we can.”

North Union (2-4) hits the road to play Bishop Garrigan at 7 p.m. next Friday in Algona, while West Hancock (6-0) plays host to West Fork in Britt, Iowa.

WH 21 28 7 6 — 62

NU 0 0 0 8 — 8

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

WH–Josef Smith 31 pass from Brayden Leerar (kick failed), 8:07.

WH–Cole Kelly 8 run (Smith pass from Leerar), 3:58.

WH–Kelley 39 run (Brody Cox kick), 0:34.

2nd Quarter

WH–Smith 3 run (kick failed), 10:06.

WH–Tate Hagen 1 run (Hagen run), 5:55.

WH–Hagen 6 run (Cox kick), 2:38.

WH–Smith 1 run (Cox kick), 1:18.

3rd Quarter

WH–Cole Wood 54 interception return (Cox kick), 5:08.

4th Quarter

WH–Parker Feuring 6 run (kick failed), 11:25.

NU–Brendan Anderson 90 kick return (Noah Morphew run), 11:12.

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: West Hancock 18; North Union 4. Rushing: West Hancock 51-459; North Union 22-22. Passing: West Hancock: 3-3-0-57; North Union 10-20-3-80. Fumbles-lost: West Hancock 2-2; North Union 1-1. Penalties: West Hancock 3-33; North Union 1-1.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Offense: Rushing: Josef Smith (WH) 12-121; Tate Hagen (WH) 12-95; Cole Kelly (WH) 7-120. Passing: Brayden Leerar (WH) 3-3-0-57; Noah Morphew (NU) 10-19-2-80. Receiving: Josef Smith (WH) 2-52.

Defense: Interceptions: Cayson Barnes (WH); Cole Wood (WH); Bryer Subject (WH). Fumbles recoveries: Cayson Barnes (WH); Caleb Rasch (NU); Bryer Prochniak (NU).

Martin County West 38, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 0 — Wyatt Geistfeld contributed 199 yards on offense, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another, as the Mavericks cruised past the Knights, 38-0, on Friday night in Sherburn.

Geistfeld was 5 of 13 passing with no interceptions. He ran the ball nine times for 68 yards.

MCW teammate Jaxson Rohman carried the ball 17 times for 72 yards and one touchdown.

Derek Dunlop caught four passes for 102 yards and a pair of scores.

The Mavericks had 289 yards of offense to LCWM’s 116.

The Maverick defense also shined, with Rohman snatching two interceptions. Nate Simmonds and Raine Stade each recovered fumbles.

Stade, Connor Simmonds and Miles Fitzgerald each recorded six tackles for the Mavericks.

Martin County West started the scoring in the first quarter on a 1-yard run by Rohman.

The Mavericks followed with an onslaught in the second quarter, beginning with a 2-yard run by Miles Fitzgerald, following a fumble recovery by Nate Simmonds on the Knights’ 2-yard line.

Geistfeld and Dunlop soon connected on a 33-yard scoring pass, then Geistfeld ran in a touchdown from 46 yards out on the quarterback option.

The Mavs chose to onside kick and recovered. On the next play, Geistfeld hit Dunlop on a 55-yard pass to put Martin County West ahead 35-0 at halftime.

Alec Weir kicked five extra points for the Mavericks, and added a 33-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Martin County West improves to 4-2 with the victory. The Mavericks travel to Le Sueur next Friday for a 7 p.m. game against Le Sueur-Henderson.

Jackson County Central 20, Blue Earth Area 15 — A Rudy Voss touchdown run with 1:51 left in the third quarter put the Huskies ahead for good in a non-district football game Friday night in Blue Earth.

Gavin Storbeck completed 14 of 21 passes for the Class 2A No. 9-ranked Bucs for 175 yards, while Koby Nagel continued his torrid scoring streak with two touchdowns and 55 yards on 21 carries.

Cameron Anderson caught five passes for 67 yards, while Caelan Sanders hauled in five catches for 54 yards. Nagel added three catches for 50 yards.

Voss completed 8 of 15 passes for 88 yards for the Class 3A No. 2-ranked Huskies, with two going for touchdowns.

Voss also ran the ball 14 times for 140 yards, while Bradley Buhl Jr. had 15 totes for 81 yards.

The Bucs went ahead 15-14 when Nagel scored a 5-yard and a 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter, but couldn’t reach paydirt again in the fourth to overcome Voss’ run.

Blue Earth Area (4-2) plays host to St. James Area for a 7 p.m. matchup next Friday, while JCC (6-0) plays host to Pipestone Area.

JCC 0 14 6 0 — 20

BEA 0 0 15 0 — 15

Scoring Plays

1st Quarter

No scoring.

2nd Quarter

JCC–Nathaniel Post 20 pass from Rudy Voss (Keaton Storm kick), 6:34.

JCC–Travis Rogotzke 26 pass from Voss (Storm kick), 0:03.

3rd Quarter

BEA–Koby Nagel 5 run (Kean Hicks kick), 6:07.

BEA–Nagel 1 run (Zach Herrmann pass from Gavin Storbeck), 3:02.

JCC–Voss 19 run (run failed), 1:51.

4th Quarter

No scoring.

Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman 38, Westbrook-Walnut Grove 20 — The Jaguars won their second consecutive game, defusing the Chargers by 18 points Friday night in Westbrook.

No individual or team statistics were provided for either program.

The Jaguars (2-4) travel to Nicollet next Friday night.

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